The present invention relates to a leash for animals and specifically a retractable leash for animals, and which includes a housing in which the remaining length of a leash exiting the housing can be taken up, and which can be stopped by means of actuating mechanisms.
Compared to conventional leashes, retractable leashes have the advantage that they automatically wind up excess leash on a spring-biased reel. For the user walking the animal, retractable leashes of this kind are generally equipped with a fixed-size grip that is integral with the housing. The advantage of a combi-design of this kind is that it permits a very simple production process. The first disadvantage, however, is that different users have different-sized hands that do not all fit into a single-sized grip. Optimal operation and handling of such a leash can accordingly not be guaranteed. This problem is exacerbated by the second disadvantage, namely that the size of the retractable leash, and hence also the size of the grip, increases with the size of the animal.
If, for example, a person with a dainty hand uses a retractable leash for a large animal, the grip will be too large, since the pulling force on the leash and the direction of pull will cause the user's hand to slip automatically to the lower end of the grip. If this happens, the user's thumb can no longer reach the actuating buttons at the top end of the grip. In dangerous situations it is thus almost impossible to keep an animal under control.
The opposite situation occurs, for example, when a person with a large hand uses a retractable leash for a small animal. In this case, the grip is too small. The thumb of the hand holding the leash can admittedly always reach the actuating buttons at the top of the grip, but since only two or three fingers fit into the grip, walking an animal on the leash becomes very uncomfortable with time.
Since one and the same person can only have one hand size—UNLESS he or she wears gloves in winter, thus altering the “hand size”—the combination of these disadvantages means that a user hardly ever has the ideal retractable leash.
One exception here is retractable leashes with such a small housing that it fits into the palm of users with medium-to-large hands, and therefore does not have a grip. A construction of this kind is described, for example, in the DE 30 40 281. On account of their design, these leashes have only a very limited range and cannot accommodate other fixed mountings.
Another exception is leashes designed to give an animal controlled freedom of movement. The housing has an eye that can be hung on a hook, allowing the leash to be attached to an object. The disadvantage of these leashes is that the extension length of the leash cannot be set, and that no other mountings can be accommodated. Such leashes can therefore be used only for this one purpose.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved leash for animals to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide a useful leash with improved functions and additional uses.